The Crack Team (Philanthropy Edition)
A lighthearted look at what it really takes to fix foundations
A mysterious package arrived at my desk about 20 years ago while I was working at the Gates Foundation. It was from The Crack Team, a real structural repair company specializing in fixing literal foundations. The swag was excellent—pens, stickers, and yes, boxer shorts branded with their logo. It was absurd and memorable in all the right ways.
As I started Foundations Shaken, I kept coming back to that moment. The metaphor still holds: some cracks need fixing, some need exploring, and some let the light in.
So here it is, if The Crack Team fixed philanthropic foundations, this is the service brochure I imagine they'd offer.
